http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...16-8-2005_pg7_2
WB increases aid to Pakistan to $1.5b
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has decided to increase its financial assistance to Pakistan’s development sector to $1.5 billion.
The “substantial increase” will be spent on poverty alleviation, women’s development and education, WB President Paul Wolfowitz said in a statement to the press after a 40-minute meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his economic team on Monday.
Wolfowitz praised Pakistan’s 8 percent growth, but said the challenge was to sustain it, reduce poverty and ensure equal rights for women.
“There are challenges of poverty, the challenges of under development, the challenges of giving women a full and equal chance,” he told Pakistan Television after meeting with officials in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Aziz was pleased with the “wonderful” increase and said the bank was already helping Pakistan in human development, water and power generation and advisory and financial services.
At a dinner hosted in his honour by the prime minister, Wolfowitz said Pakistan’s economic success could inspire other Muslim countries. He said Pakistan’s economic growth was also good for the region as it promoted stability.
Wolfowitz arrived in Islamabad on Sunday and a World Bank statement released ahead of his arrival said he would visit rural areas to interact directly with communities, especially women’s groups, to learn how they have risen out of poverty.
Pakistan is the World Bank’s fifth-largest borrower. The bank’s loans to Pakistan have totalled $950 million in 2005, the statement said. app/ap